View from Westminster: Stephen Doughty MP

View from Westminster: Stephen Doughty MP

There was a significant and welcome announcement from Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer this week, confirming Labour would support a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit.

The PM is recklessly running down the clock, in an attempt to force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous No Deal.

We cannot and will not accept this.

I worked with cross-party colleagues to force her to bring forward a decisive vote in March to rule out No Deal and extend Article 50, and faced with rebellion she was forced to concede.

This week Labour also tried to force the government to make an alternative plan their negotiating objectives – a comprehensive customs union with a UK say; close alignment with the single market; guarantees on rights and standards; protection for Britain’s role in EU agencies; and a security agreement which guarantees access to the European arrest warrant and vital shared databases.

I’ve long argued the least-worst Brexit option is to stay in the single market and customs union - but it’s clear that Parliament is at an impasse.

The public should have the final say on any Brexit deal and if it is rejected, we should keep the deal we already have.

Last week I challenged Theresa May directly in Prime Minister’s Questions.

I put to her: “In the midst of political crisis it is ever more important we put our country first. With thousands of jobs at risk and our international reputation in question, will she stop playing Russian roulette, rule out no deal, and put a deal back to the British people so they can have the final say?”

Then in a debate on the Economic Impact of the Proposed Deal, I said: “The economic effects are already being felt. I’ve spoken to businesses in my constituency that have gone from profit to loss and others that have cut investment.

"This week I spoke to Cardiff University, which cited Brexit as a factor in the job losses it has proposed. This is very serious, so does the Minister accept that we need to get serious?

"Ministers know that No Deal would be a catastrophe. They know every single Brexit would lead to a worse economic outcome for this country, so do they accept that the issue needs to go back to the people so they can decide, based on the facts?”

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